Inside NIA: A Blog for Researchers

On October 11, 2016, the first manuscript describing a treasure trove of genomic data contributed by members of the Accelerating Medicines Partnership for Alzheimer’s Disease (AMP-AD) Target Discovery and Preclinical Validation Consortium was published in Nature Scientific Data. The publication of the datasets and their description are part of an NIH-wide effort to bring together big data and experts from diverse disciplines to better understand dementia, as well as other chronic conditions. Read More

I visited Cleveland over Thanksgiving. In a moment of peace from family conversations, I picked up the local paper. The first story I encountered was a long report on the Health and Retirement Study findings, funded by NIA, showing a substantial decline in U.S. dementia rates in the last 20 years. Then, I encountered a story reporting Eli Lilly’s negative clinical trial results on solanezumab. My immediate conclusion was that, no matter where I go, my job follows me!
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As many of you know, if you’ve been reading this blog, both the Senate and House appropriations committees separately have passed bills calling for large increases in funds to support research on Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. In fact, we’ve used that advance information to prepare to receive these funds, should they come our way in final legislation. That’s why we’re in the process of publishing many funding opportunity announcements that will take advantage of these funds, and other funds we will have, once we know our final budget. Read More

Are you ready to let the good times roll in New Orleans at the annual meeting of the Gerontological Society of America (GSA)? We’re looking forward to seeing old friends and making new ones in the Big Easy. We also hope that you’ll take the opportunity to connect with NIA staff at the meeting, during scientific sessions, and in the Exhibit Hall. Read More

The NIA recently created an online version of our Health Disparities Research Framework to showcase priorities and investments in this important aging research area. We hope that this site will serve as a resource for scientists interested in investigating health disparities related to aging. Please visit the page and take a look at the Framework’s interactive format. Read More

On September 21–23, 2016 almost 100 physicians and researchers attended the second biennial GEMSSTAR Scholars Conference, “Models and Studies of Aging,” here in Bethesda. The meeting was sponsored by a U13 conference grant from the NIA to the American Geriatrics Society (AGS), with additional support from the John A. Hartford Foundation. Read More

So you think you want to conduct a clinical trial? Of course, it’s a very complex undertaking. Each stage requires you to comply with regulatory and research standards. And from scientific protocols to procedural manuals, several key documents drive both trial operations and protocol compliance. I’m pleased to let you know that NIA has come up with one way to help you streamline study start-up and adhere to standards. Read More

Our National Advisory Council on Aging meeting last month proved to be very exciting. We have received increased public interest, together with additional funding in recent years, to accelerate progress against Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. This has blossomed into numerous concepts for new initiatives that came before the Council to review. Their enormous accomplishment at this meeting was to approve 26 concept proposals for funding opportunities.
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On October 20, several NIA senior staff will travel to Atlanta for the NIA Director's Regional Meeting in Aging Research at Morehouse School of Medicine. They will describe current funding opportunities available for researchers who may be new to the field of aging research. I recently sat down with NIA Director Dr. Richard Hodes to discuss the upcoming meeting. Read More

If it’s September, it must be Council! It’s that time again! The public session of NIA’s National Advisory Council on Aging is taking place tomorrow starting at 8:00 a.m., Eastern time. The meeting agenda and materials are available online. You can watch the archived videocast here: https://videocast.nih.gov/ in a few days. Read the full blog post. Read More

We have pay line updates! The big news is that the final career development awards pay line for the year is the 20th percentile. Of equal interest is the fact that we’re increasing our general allocation research grant pay line to the 11th percentile. We also have news on fellowships and small business awards. Read More